It was back to the normal routine of castle life for Gus. Being a morning guard, his post began at six, which meant at five in the morning, he was already beginning to wake up. This morning marked three days since his long journey with Marin.
As was typical of him, he got up out of bed, and headed towards the barracks for a hot shower. Afterwards, he ate a small breakfast in the dining room, which provided limited options before six. By the time he was geared up and wearing Nocturne’s tabard, it was five minutes until the start of his shift.
By that time he was waiting in the briefing room with his fellow morning guards, about to receive reports from the night watch about anything important. There was hardly ever anything interesting to report about, but the captain of the guard, Max was adamant in the different shifts communicating with each other.
“So Morello scared Teddy so bad last night that he soiled himself,” one of the night watch guards continued on. Everyone in the room laughed.
Since there was never any real danger in the castle, the two night shift guards who were tasked with relaying information to morning shift just took the time to tell them all funny stories.
“You should’ve seen the look on Captain Urshoff’s face when Teddy ran to him saying there was an accident! He stood up, ready to take action, but then smelled a horrendous odor coming from him!”
Rudolf, who was sitting by Gus, had gone beet red from laughing so hard. The jokes and funny stories were always appreciated, it was a good way to start the day.
Jokes aside though, a nightwatch guard had a specific message to relay once after the laughter had subsided.
“Hey Rudolf?” He asked.
Rudolf nodded, still shaking off the laughter from the story.
“You’re on the watchtower, right? This note came through from Max about you being extra observant for the RAM officials who are coming soon,” he explained.
Rudolf went from a lighthearted demeanor to a slightly offended one.
“What?” Rudolf responded. “As if I don’t take my job seriously enough? I’m the best lookout this squad has! Remember, I saw the King coming from miles away before he got here. Had enough time to get half the castle waitin’ for him! Max tellin’ me to be extra observant is like tellin’ Ned to scratch his head more!”
Ned Calamo was an interior designer for the castle who must’ve had a terrible case of eczema on his scalp. He almost always had his left hand up on his head.
A few guards chuckled at the comparison.
“Look man, I don’t care how good you are or aren’t. I just gotta tell you the message, that’s all,” the night guard explained.
“Yeah, well. Whatever,” Rudolf grumbled.
The rest of the morning briefing went well, and it wasn’t long before Gus had officially started his shift. It consisted mostly of walking several rounds in the castle, and a few outside postings whom he relieved other guards to let eat and refresh themselves.
Gus always had his trusty claymore slung to his back, ready to use at anytime if a situation called for it. He made small talk with his fellow guards, but his mind stayed occupied about becoming an elemental.
He hoped Marin hadn’t forgotten about him, but Gus knew that it couldn’t be true. Marin was too smart a man for that to be the case. He must be very busy, then. Very busy indeed, Gus realized. It dawned on him that it could even be weeks before he got any lessons. That would suck.
Gus got his break for lunch. He briskly made his way to the dining room with limited time. He had just a half hour to eat, and return to his post.
At the table, he sat around other castle members, listening to them talk about their affairs. At some point, he glanced to the end of the center table where Marin would sit during mealtimes.
He wasn’t there at the moment. Gus wondered if he even made an appearance during lunchtime. He knew his King to be quite sparse in his eating.
In fact, if Marin had much going on, most people wouldn’t even see the King besides an hour at dinner, if you were fortunate enough to not be on duty during that time.
Gus and Marin had traveled so long together, done so much, and spent so much time around each other, it was a shock to see that his King hadn’t even said a word to him in the whole three days back at the castle.
Gus understood. He was just a lowly castle guard while Marin had a great weight in managing complex kingdom affairs. It was just a polar change that he had to readjust to. It looked to be that the only time he would spend with him again would be the lessons, if those ever did come to pass.
Lunch was over, back to the grind. Gus returned to his post, happy that at least his shift would be done in three hours.
He stood outside, watching carts periodically move goods to and from Nocturne Castle. Gus figured if he mastered the ice element, he could get a better job than just a standard guard. Maybe get promoted to captain, or even the King’s bodyguard. Those were much more respectable titles, he believed.
After his shift ended, a guard came to relieve him. The Evening Post were now in action at 2pm. As was standard, two of the morning guards had filled the evening ones with any information during the briefing.
Another day over. Gus made his way to the armory, and hung his claymore on the wall besides the other weapons. He removed his tabard and belt that kept it together. After removing any extra gear, Gus headed towards the barracks.
Walking down the hallway, he passed Max Coronga’s office. The captain was sitting behind the desk writing some paperwork. At the sight of Gus walking by, he called him out.
“Gus!” He thundered out, as he saw the young lad slowly walk by.
Gus was slightly nervous. Getting called out by the captain of the guard in such a manner was usually for a bad reason.
“Yes sir?” Gus responded.
Max casually tossed a sealed note from his side of the desk to the other.
“Note for you. From the King, I think,” he calmly stated.
Gus became ecstatic, but tried to hide it.
“T-Thank you, sir,” he said as he reached forward to pick it up. It was sealed with red wax, and had a crown emblem on it.
Gus turned around to walk out, note in both hands.
“And, Gus?” Max called again.
He turned around.
“It’s good to have you back, bud,” Max stated with a smile.
“Aye, sir.”
When Gus was out of sight from his captain, he ran down the hallway to the barracks. He wasn’t opening the note right there in the hallway. He would be sitting down at his table, fully prepared to take in whatever Marin had written to him.
It was about time Marin had finally contacted him. He worried though, that the note would tell him to be patient and wait for the right time for the teaching to begin. Regardless what it would say, though, Gus was happy enough to have his belief confirmed that Marin hadn’t forgotten him.
Back in his own personal room, Gus sat in a wooden chair, and cracked the seal open. He unfolded the letter, and began reading.
Gus, it’s about time I made good on our deal, seeing as you’ve held up your end. Meet me today at 3, in the old woods to the left of the castle. I’ve prepared some stuff for you.
--Marin
Gus couldn’t believe it. He reread the short note. Then he looked at the time. It was only 2:15. He reread the note, then read it again. He scanned it over and over, committing it to memory.
This was better news than he had prepared himself for. Gus checked his watch again, and wondered if he should get there early. No, that would be disrespectful, right? Marin said 3, not 2 whatever. He needed to wait.
Gus wondered if he should bring anything with him. What would he? His claymore? No point in that. He looked around his room, but then looked down at the note, where it said Marin had prepared him with stuff.
He wouldn’t need anything. Marin had it taken care of.
Within the next moment, fellow morning guard Corey Beren entered Gus Talbor’s room.
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“Hey man, are you still coming to Glenn’s sparring event? Rudolf said he was bringing that thing he invented,” Corey asked while standing in the door frame.
“No can do, Corey! I have new plans!” Gus said with great excitement.
“Better than clashing swords?” Corey jokingly asked.
“Much better, my friend! Much better!” Gus stood up, and pocketed the note. He went to head out.
“If time permits, I might be there for the second half of it, we’ll see. For now though, I gotta go!” Gus took off down the hallway without another word.
Corey hadn’t even gotten the chance to ask him what new event had him so excited. He watched as Gus rounded the corner, and disappeared.
To the left of Nocturne Castle was a path that led out of the kingdom, and to a cluster of trees that was simply known as the woods. It wasn’t far away from the castle in any sense, it was just a stone’s throw away. It only took ten minutes to get to it.
Since snow now fell year round in the Murok Mountains, the trees never regained their leaves. They all sat there dormant, waiting for a spring that would now never arrive. Whether the trees were even alive or not at this point was unknown.
As the three o’ clock hour drew near, Gus could be seen walking the snowy path to this area. Not a lot of people ever wandered the woods, Gus himself had visited it just once since being here. Due to this, it made sense that it would be a good meeting place for him and the King; a place where no one would bother them.
Passing a mountain peak or two, the young castle guard finally spotted the woods. With much on his mind about the coming events, he arrived at the scene, with a view of Marin sitting on a log.
Upon seeing his King waiting there, he began to jog up.
Marin stood up in response. They both met each other.
“King Marin!” Gus exclaimed.
“Hey there, Gus. How have you been?” Marin responded.
“I’m doing damn well right now!”
Marin chuckled. “I bet you are! Well, it’s about time we began preparing you, eh?”
“I’m ready!” Gus declared, pumped, with fists out.
“Alright, calm down! It’s not exactly something that happens over night. We need to Prime you first,” Marin explained.
“What now?” Gus asked.
“First off, I want to ask if you’re sure you want the ice element. You know there’s a slew of other elements available to learn. And once you link with one, you can never link to the others. You’re stuck with what you picked,” Marin explained.
“Are you kidding?! Ice, baby! I’ve seen what you can do, I want that!”
“Are you positive? The other elements can also do really incredible things. I won’t take offense at all, I assure you. Fire is good for-”
Gus cut him off. “I’ve made up my mind long ago, Marin. There’s no changing it. I want the ice element, taught directly from you!”
“Well, I figured you’d say that. I just wanted to make sure. Follow me, I have the first thing I want you to do.”
Marin gestured Gus to follow him, and they walked further into the Woods.
Gus was ready. He couldn’t believe it was finally happening. Curiosity plagued his mind as he wondered what would constitute the first lesson in learning the ice element. Marin said he needed to be primed. He thought about what that could mean.
After walking for just a moment, Gus spotted a metal tub near a tree, with a towel hanging on a branch.
After they got closer, Gus saw it was indeed a bathtub, the same ones found in the castle.
“Alright, what is all this?” Gus asked with a large grin on his face. “If you need me to bathe in some sort of ceremony beforehand, wouldn’t it make sense to do it in the castle?”
Marin was grinning under his mask, about to unload the truth to Gus.
“Not exactly. There is no ceremony. This is where the priming begins,” Marin stated.
“It’s full of ice!” Gus said as the looked down into the tub. He reached his arm in, and swished his hand under the floating ice. The water was absolutely freezing.
“Right. So, the priming processes for fire, ice and electricity are brutal, but they’re much quicker than the meditation involved in slower elements like shadow, light, and crystal. But hey, you demand the ice element, correct?” Marin said.
“Y-yeah,” Gus said, all excitement leaving him as he began to realize what might happen to him.
“Okay, so, you’re going to need to take an ice bath. Many ice baths, actually. Over time,” Marin mentioned.
“What? Why? Really?” Gus never once thought something like this would be involved in learning an element.
“You need to know what it’s like to be cold,” Marin responded.
“Uh, I already know the feeling, Marin! I’m cold right now! It’s cold out here,” Gus stated.
“I mean REALLY cold. Stinging, painful cold,” Marin said. “As cold as you could possibly feel.”
Gus scratched the back of his head. While there was not a doubt in his mind he would go through with this, he really had pictured some sort of easier way to go about it.
“I… did you have to do this?” Gus asked, at least trying to make himself feel better.
“At Arkana? Something like it, sure. I’m sorry it has to be like this, but we’re taking the easiest route possible for you,” Marin replied.
Gus breathed a heavy sigh as he stared at the ice in the tub. “Well if this is the easiest route, I’d hate to see the hardest. How’d you even get this tub out here?” Gus asked as he began unclothing.
“Some servants hauled it out, of course. I supplied the ice in the tub, naturally,” Marin grinned.
Gus did several more exhales as he mentally prepared himself to enter. He was just in his underwear now.
“I swear, Marin, if this is some prank, I’m gonna kill you,” Gus joked.
Marin gave out a rare hearty laugh in response.
“No, no, no. I’m not like that. This is all necessary, I assure you.”
Gus had never done an ice bath like this in his life. He had no idea how cold he would feel.
“Alright, alright then. Here we go!” Gus hopped over the side and slipped into the tub.
It was indeed the coldest possible feeling the young man had ever felt. Every second sitting there felt like a minute. His entire body stung from the icy water. His immediate thought was how long did he have to endure the suffering in this tub.
Not more than five seconds, Gus was already asking how long he had to sit in there.
“Let’s give it a solid two minutes. Ah, submerge yourself more,” Marin demanded as he pushed Gus by his shoulder further into the water.
He was now neck deep in the ice, shivering like crazy. Gus wanted to cry out in pain, but knew that wouldn’t help his situation at all, and only make him look weak.
Gus could barely talk through the quivering of his jaw. “I’m f-f-freezing…”
“Good, good. That’s what we need. You’re a strong lad, Gus. I know you can last the two minutes. Just close your eyes and focus if you have to. I won’t go anywhere,” Marin coached.
Close my eyes. Okay. I can do this. I must. Marin is putting great effort into teaching me, and I can’t let him down.
“J-just t-tell me when t-the t-t-two m-minutes are up,” Gus barely got out.
“Absolutely. Hang tight.” Marin stood there watching, mentally counting the seconds as they went by. He felt bad for Gus, this initial process sucked, but knew he would be thanking him later for it all.
After sometime, Gus could feel his heart slowing down. His extremities were going numb as his body rushed all the warmth it could to the center of his body. Gus also counted seconds as he had nothing better to do than enduring the cold.
It was finally up.
“Okay!” Marin exclaimed.
“GAH!!” Gus roared as he activated his muscles to lift himself out of the tub. Marin grabbed his arm to help him out. When Gus stepped over the tub, Marin handed him the large dry towel resting on the tree branch.
Gus immediately began drying himself off, no extra energy to afford a word at the moment. Marin stepped back as he dried off, and began to clothe himself again.
“How was that?” Marin eventually asked.
“I hated it,” Gus said in a serious, unpleasant tone. After he was dressed, he continued drying his hair.
“Can we go inside? Like, right now?” Gus added.
“Sure, of course,” Marin responded.
Both of them immediately walked out of the woods and towards the castle.
Gus was quite upset about the whole event. This was not a pleasant experience in the slightest. Never would he have imagined such measures would need to be taken to learn his element.
Was his motivation deterred though? Not at all. It would take more than that to defeat his desire. That didn’t stop him from cursing this whole priming process, though.
“Glad that’s over with,” Gus finally said after some silence. “You said I have to do that again?”
“Many times, actually.”
“WHAT?!”
“Two weeks of ice baths to play it safe. What time do you wake up in the morning?” Marin asked, ignoring Gus’s comical reaction.
“F-five… why?” Gus demanded.
“Start waking up at four. The ice bath will be the first thing you do before anything else. Your body will appreciate the coldness the most during that time, and, the worst part of the day will already be over! That sounds good, doesn’t it?”
“No!” Gus said, not caring what Marin thought. Gus knew though, that this was a test of his dedication, and understood that if he didn’t comply, it would tell Marin he wasn’t willing enough to receive the element.
“...But, of course, I will do it,” Gus added.
“Excellent. I will be there for you every morning. You can expect me to cheer you on during this difficult process,” Marin said as a consolation, at least.
“Okay.”
Gus had never felt happier when he entered the castle again. The warmth of the interior felt like a cozy blanket that hugged his body. Never had he such appreciation for the warm air.
After a farewell, and a see-you-tomorrow-morning, Marin took off in a different direction, as Gus bolted for the nearest fireplace.
He sat for countless minutes in front of the fire, warming himself back up. He realized he wouldn’t be getting elemental lessons until this priming was done. At least it didn’t last too long.
Corey appeared besides him, shocked to see the state of Gus.
“What happened to you, man? Didn’t you have some fun thing you were going to do? Why are you all wet and freezing looking?” Corey demanded.
“It wasn’t fun after all!” Gus exclaimed in response.
“Uhhh… Well, sorry about that. Are you still going to that sparring event?”